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Sunday, 8 November 2015

Synonyms Of Children, Pets As Springboard For Gbadebo

From domestic-related soft
subjects, a young painter Oluwaseyi Gbadebo brings onto canvas children and
pets in what appears like a fresh breath into the Lagos art gallery scene. For
Nigeria’s art space that has a few names in the old and second/third generation
of masters, young artists like Gbadebo brings hope of a continuum in the country's
creative excellence, particularly in painting. At Quintessence, Lekki, Lagos,
Gbadebo is currently sharing his skill in realism paintings via a solo
exhibition titled Synonyms, which opened a few weeks ago.

Painting titled Hmmn...I hear you, by Oluwaseyi Gbadebo

Though less than three years of post-school
training, Gbadebo is already having his first major solo exhibition in a Lagos
art environment where galleries hardly take risks.

"We started working with Gbadebo in 2012
when we noticed the potentials in his paintings, stimulating our desire to give
the emerging artist a solo exhibition," said Moses Ohiomokhare, curator at
Quintessence Gallery.

Gbadebo is apparently a portraitist, but with
a statement to make. As much as portrait painting appears common among young artists,
the story behind each work makes a lot of difference. For Gbadebo, there are
quite some dramatic expressions in the faces of children that flash too fast
for people to notice in reality. For examples, expressions such as "Hmmn...
I hear you," which is more likely to be an adult's sarcastic look; rage of
a baby, supposedly "born with silver spoon; and a joyous "Ayo"
whose brightness comes in between, are quite interesting aspects of children
hardly noticed by adults. In fact the portraits titled Ibidun,Daniel,Great, among others could be useful materials for scholars who are
interested in researching children behaviour.

Apart
from the story or themes behind the portraits by Gbadebo, the technique and
style implored, particularly in application of colours suggest an artist whose
strength may not necessarily be in realism. Still on the choice of subjects,
Gbadebo explained his thoughts: "children for the future, and pets for
loyalty." For Synonyms, the area of pets focused is exclusively on
dogs. "Yes, dogs for now," he said. "In the future I might focus
on other pets."

The
gallery stated: "Gbadebo is a product of Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology, Ogbomoso and a realist who tries to represent his subject
truthfully.

"He is thrilled by expressions and has
found great joy in children and animals. His style is different from the
stylized works that are in the market today. The body of work he has created
also tends to show how much he has been influenced by animals in his youth as
pets. Dogs are called man’s best friend because of their intelligence, loyalty
and devotion and children being innocent and loving beings are best of friends
of dogs. There is the saying that dog owners are less likely to suffer from
depression. If this is true, then their presence is therapeutic in homes.

"Gbadebo had his
National Youth Service experience in Benin City in 2013 and, it has also had
some positive effect on his work."